Special Events

Special Events

Portal of the Feminine - South Orange, NJ

Portal of the Feminine

Portal of the Feminine: 'A Time of Reclaiming' is a special women's weekend retreat for experiential sensual study.

Join us as we guide you in exploring your erotic embodiment and the role of arousal in your creative life. Develop your ability to identify and express your desires, and discover new ways of listening to the voice and wisdom of your own body. Now in its seventh year, Portal of the Feminine is a sexual reclaiming and wellness program designed for women and centered in body-based learning. This non-residential retreat is open to women of all ages, sexual orientation, and levels of sexual education and experience.

Now more than ever, women are called upon to come back to their bodies, and feel the full agency of both their collective and individual power. You will leave this workshop feeling turned on, empowered, and full of a sense of renewal.

Portal of the Feminine is an invitation to discover a new entryway into your own body. You will take the time to listen to your body and actually talk to the erotic inside of you. You will have the opportunity to be witnessed both by your fellow participants and by the lens of a camera. We will encourage you to listen to what your body wants and you will be able to explore your erotic nature in your own way, with the guidance and support of experienced teachers of female sexuality.

Portal of the Feminine is a sacred, playful, and intentional environment in which each woman's choices, boundaries, and expressions are honored and celebrated. We will go deep into the potential pleasure and wisdom of our bodies. Each woman will deepen her relationship with her own body, as well as learning through supporting and witnessing other women in their unfolding.

Together we will experience our bodies' full range of expression and experience, in both the physical and energetic realms, dancing in both the dark and the light of pleasure. Participants will explore and expand upon their awareness and knowledge of their own bodies through:

Movement

The art of adoration

Expanded arousal

Boudoir photography

Orgasmic meditation

And playing with sensation.

We will explore both the power of sexual initiative and the bliss of surrender.

Are you ready to develop an internal guide to successfully and sustainably explore your sexuality?

Please join Pamela Madsen, internationally renowned sex educator and pioneer in women's sexuality; Lori Sutherland, founder of Dame Lori Unlimited, who will be teaching Sensual Soul Style: Owning Your Beauty through the Power of Visionary Leadership, and the Art of Adoration; JonGunnar who will capture and help call forth your erotic nature in images through private boudoir sessions; and Neal Wecker, CSB Senior Core Team Member of Back to the Body.

We will come together on Friday evening (June 15th) to get to know one other, share light food and refreshments, and set our collective intentions for the weekend.

On Saturday we will begin the process of exploring, reclaiming and getting to know parts of our own erotic selves that we may never have explored before.

On Friday evening, we will begin at 7pm and complete no later than 11pm. On Saturday and Sunday, we will begin at 10am and end by 6pm. Lodging options are listed below for this event and are not included in the retreat investment.

Refreshments will be served on Friday evening. On Saturday and Sunday, participants are asked to bring their own lunches unless you opt into "The Chinese Buffet" for an additional cost of $20.00. Snacks and beverages will be provided throughout the weekend. Once you are registered, you will also be invited to join our private online group.

If you have any questions about the event content or whether this event is right for you, please email Meg@BacktotheBody.org

Meet Your Educators:

Pamela Madsen

A pioneer in fertility and sex advocacy, Pamela Madsen is the founder of Back to the Body: Sensuous Retreats for Women. Before taking on female sexuality full-time, Pamela was the first Executive Director of The American Fertility Association. She is a fearless advocate for women’s health and integrated sexuality who leverages her raw honesty and well-informed wit to help strip the stigma from female desire and body image.

As a certified Somatic Sex Educator with a Master's degree in Education, Pamela has coached hundreds of women on their personal journeys back into their bodies and their expressions of the Divine Feminine. She offers her highly sought-after Back to the Body retreats both domestically and internationally, with recent events in such locales as South Africa, Italy, Spain, and New Orleans.

Pamela's writing has been featured in The Huffington Post, Psychology Today, The Fertility Advocate, After50, and Care2. She is the author of Shameless: How I Ditched The Diet, Got Naked, Found True Pleasure and Still Got Home In Time To Cook Dinner (Rodale, January 2011). Pamela has appeared on 60 Minutes, Oprah, O Magazine, The New York Times, CNN, AARP Primetime Radio, The Dr. Laura Berman Show, The Jane Pratt Show, and Playboy Radio, as well as countless other media outlets.

Neal Wecker, CSB

CORE SENIOR TEAM MEMBER OF BACK TO THE BODY

As a Certified Sexological Bodyworker and Somatic Sex Educator Neal Wecker is committed to offering practical, bold, and trust worthy sex and intimacy skill based education for physical, emotional, and spiritual maturity. In private sessions, workshops, and writings, Neal advocates and offers support for people to embrace and to experience their sexuality as a conscious practice towards the health and happiness they deserve.

His educational offerings are always in reverence and remembrance of the body; to revere and to remember the pleasures and wisdom experienced through conscious embodiment. His training includes erotic bodywork, Tantra, various expressive movement art forms, yoga, gender studies, and sex coaching. Neal has been working with Back to The Body for six years and has an unparalleled experience with working with women in an immersion setting.

At this Portal Event, Neal will be co-facilitating as well as leading experiences for attendees in our signature "Clearing of the Masculine Ritual", teaching a workshop experience on movement and directions of touch as well as supporting Pamela in a live demonstration of Sexological Bodywork.

Lori Sutherland, Dame Lori Unlimited

"Sensual Soul Styling: Owning Your Beauty through the Power of Visionary Leadership."

For over 15 years, Dame Lori Sutherland has experienced the incredible privilege of being Mama Gena's School of Womanly Arts’ only Certified Pleasure Coach. In addition to the connective tissue of large community transformative education, Lori has found that this amazing life changing discipline is best embodied when there is the intimate support of small intimate pairings . Dame Lori’s program works best with women who are seriously interested in knowing and practicing the principles of pleasure in their daily practice as their highest priority of their life, not as an exhausted afterthought. Her clients attract and include powerful entrepreneurs interested in integrating leadership principles of pleasure; the Arts and Sciences that reduces stress and provides great sensual health and wealth for themselves and their community.

After witnessing and facilitating thousands of women’s divine feminine empowerments for the past 18 years, Lori has seen that the greatest blindspot in a women is creating and owning her own pleasure based leadership. Acknowledging it. Embodying it. And Sharing our Sensual Beauty With The World!

That’s why Pleasure Visionary Leadership was born; to accelerate and amplify the brilliant sensual beauty and genius of women.

In Dame Lori’s 90 minute offering, students will experience the following:

* The Paradigm of Pleasure Visionary Leadership

* Why Self-Seduction is THE Pleasure Visionary Leadership Skill

* How Styling Your Sensual Soul is The Key to Your Pleasure-filled Power

With over thirty years in the fields of fashion activism, divine feminine leadership, Buddhist Chaplaincy, compassionate care and mental health advocacy, Lori "The Dame" Sutherland has developed several empowerment programs from her experience as director, coach, teacher and the miracle of being alive. Dame Lori's mission is to educate and inspire all to adore, adorn and astonish themselves with soul-filled leadership skills experiencing the arts and sciences of pleasure and sensuality. www.damelori.com

JonGunnar Gylfason

With over 13 years of experience in the industry, JonGunnar Gylfason is an accomplished photographer, cinematographer, and filmmaker. While being a seasoned professional, he still continues to nurture and refine his craft, never settling for less than excellence. He earned his B.S. in Mass Communications from Bemidji State University in Minnesota. He soon after relocated to New Orleans to earn his M.F.A in Film and Production from the University of New Orleans. During his time at UNO, he was a producer, cinematographer or director on over 40 short films. New Orleans turned out to be a perfect fit for JonGunnar as his art, like the city, is unique and eccentric yet still has a compelling beauty that can be appreciated by all.

JonGunnar has traveled with Back to the Body for over three years and will be offering women a taster experience of embodied photography at this Portal Event. Every woman will receive a 15 private shoot and leave receive two images.

Directions:

Retreat Location

Northern New Jersey, Retreat location will be given to registered guests only

FLYING:

Fly into the Newark, New Jersey airport, Retreat location is about 20 minutes away in South Orange, New Jersey.

If you are flying in, it is a 20 minute drive and about a $20 uber or lyft fare.

Tickets cost $7.25 one way to get from Penn Station to South Orange, NJIt is about a 30-35 minute ride.The Parsonage is a 7 minute walk from the NJT train station in the heart of the village of South Orange.Where there are charming restaurants, a gourmet grocery store and of course, a Starbucks!We can send out schedules closer to the time or you can check online or download the app. Please be mindful that the weekend schedule is different than Friday because the trains run once an hour arriving and departing.

DRIVING FROM NYC:

South Orange, NJ is approximately 40-45 minutes away from NYC.

There is plenty of parking in the neighborhood and the driveway is long and can hold several cars.

Lodging:

AIRBNB LODGING:

Lodging on Airbnb for the twin villages of South Orange, West Orange and Maplewood (ten minutes away) have plenty of rooms available for $80-$120, for double occupancy, for the dates of the retreat.